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Winning a fantasy baseball championship requires a tremendous amount of work. In addition to the countless hours you spend scouting players and doing research for your draft, the in-season management it takes to keep your roster competitive requires your constant attention. But one of the most often overlooked aspects of being a savvy fantasy general manager is to know the rules of your league inside and out.

Throughout your prep work, you were undoubtedly advised to utilize players with multi-position eligibility. Rostering those who qualify at a variety of positions gives you added roster flexibility and allows you to explore a greater number of waiver possibilities. If you drafted Javier Baez as a shortstop and lost Jason Kipnis at second base, you weren’t limited to only scouring the shortstops on your waiver wire. The addition of a middle or corner infield spot also helps with this, but again, given the rash of injuries we’ve seen this season, the need to replace multiple players at once has become prevalent.

While you can look for players with multi-position eligibility on your waiver wire, the quality of those who are eligible isn’t exactly first-rate. Usually you will find a slew of light-hitting middle infielders who meet the criteria, but their playing time is that of a backup utility man, not of someone who is going to see full-time at-bats. And that brings us to some next-level fantasy general manager work that few people pay much mind, but should, especially with what we’ve recently seen in Major League Baseball.

There’s a bit of controversy developing in the fantasy community because of in-season position eligibility changes. Most leagues will allow a player to add eligibility at a new position if they make a certain number of in-season appearances at a position different from their primary. The criterion changes from league to league, but anywhere between five and 10 games seems to be to most commonly used. Though that rule has been around for quite some time, its flaws are now being exposed by Cubs manager Joe Maddon’s implementation of defensive shifts.

According to MLB rules, a player may only use a first-baseman’s glove when he is positioned at first base. If a player moves off first base, he must change gloves. So when Maddon employs his defensive shifts, whether it’s for a dead-pull hitter or even to cover a potential bunt play differently, and Anthony Rizzo is moved off first base far enough, he is required to change gloves. The glove change is at the discretion of the umpire, but Rizzo has been instructed to swap out his first-baseman’s mitt for that of a regular infielder and as a result, is being listed in the official scoring as a second baseman. That has happened six times, and as a result, in leagues with a five-game in-season eligibility requirement, the Cubs slugger now qualifies at second base despite the fact that he has played a grand total of 2.1 innings at his “new” position.

Anthony RizzoAP

Those who own Rizzo are perfectly happy with the current framework, and are now actively searching for ways to slide Rizzo over to the keystone in an effort to boost their team’s overall power productivity. Rizzo’s current level of production may have him ranked just outside the top 10 of first baseman, but he is easily a top-five second-sacker. Unless the team is already rostering someone such as Jose Altuve, Robinson Cano or maybe Daniel Murphy, moving Rizzo to second is a massive upgrade.

In addition to the added upgrade at second base, those fantasy owners are now able to scour their waiver wire for someone else at first base, a position teeming with power. Even fringe players such as Justin Bour and Tommy Joseph will prove to be a boost: Both are more than capable of out-slugging your average second baseman. Throw in a roster that also requires a corner infielder and that owner can also start checking out any potential third base options as well. Imagine adding someone like Todd Frazier, a player many have dropped, though he has been absolutely raking since May 18. The boost in home runs and RBIs will easily offset any batting average concerns you may have.

But obviously not everyone is happy with this obvious loophole in the fantasy rules. Some are demanding a change from “appearances” to “starts,” which is likely the best possible solution. Others are looking to increase the minimum number of appearances to 20 games. Some want to wipe out the ability to change positions in-season altogether.

But there is no changing the rules midseason. To do so would be unfair to those looking to exploit the technicality and would be a pointed attack at one team. As a result, it is now up to you to be that savvy general manager who finds his/her own way to utilize the potential advantage. You need to check your league rules and then start searching for players who either qualify now for an in-season change or are about to, based on the number of games they’ve played off their primary position. One might call this sneaky or subversive, but if the rules allow it, you need to do whatever it takes to win.